


Guardians

by Master_Stabroek13



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, Demons, Dystopia, Gen, Gods, Prophecy, Timeline Divergence, guardian-type character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-18
Updated: 2018-02-16
Packaged: 2018-12-31 01:57:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 21,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12122052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Master_Stabroek13/pseuds/Master_Stabroek13
Summary: Overpowered idiot wants to save the world? No thanks. I'll just sip a cold drink and put my feet up on this footstool of a defeated god and watch you all fight. Thus spoke the watcher.[Originally posted on Fanfiction.net under the title Uchiha Legacy: Redemption redeux]





	1. Chapter One

** BOOK ONE: UCHIHA **

****

** PART ONE:  ** ** SOPHIA **

**********

**__ **

 

**Taken from: The Road to Dune, by Frank Herbert, Brian Herbert, and Kevin J. Anderson.**

_These things I tell you: the sequential nature of real history cannot be repeated precisely by prescience. We grasp incidents cut out of the chain. That is why I deny my own powers. Eternity moves. It inflicts itself upon me. Let my subjects doubt my majesty and my oracular visions. Let them never doubt eternity._ -DUNESDAY PROVERBS.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Fifteen year old Sophia Roland stood, eyes closed, listening to the music that came through her earbuds as she waited for the bus, ignoring the old women behind her who complained loudly about the state of modern society and the disrespect of the modern youth for elders. They didn't like her much because of her father, who was in and out of jail, whose daughter looked nothing like him. They pitied her late grandfather, a renowned composer and musician whose legacy had been discarded by a wayward daughter for a street ruffian but delighted in ruminating over the fact that his granddaughter, Sophia, promised to be just as great as he. Perhaps she would come to the same end as her mother.

While Sophia couldn't help what they thought of her or her family, she didn't have to listen to malicious gossip and had every intention of leaving the stop and calling a taxi instead when the young woman sitting next to the group of old hags began coughing, a horrible, thick wet sound that Sophia could hear over Beethoven's _Sonata in C Major Op. 2, No. 3 - Adagio_ in her ears. She looked around in concern, forgetting her annoyance with her neighbors.

The young woman's husband rubbed her back soothingly, the only help he could offer. Their daughter, a cherub faced toddler, looked up curiously when her mother began to cough, accidentally dropping her blue ball. It rolled away from her and into the street. The little girl cried out and her father looked up with a frown. He saw the ball in the middle of the street and his daughter's face beginning to scrunch up. Sophia caught his eye and smiled warmly at him.

"I'll get it," she told him. He nodded gratefully to her and patted his daughter gently as Sophia trotted out of the bus stop. There was no traffic in the street, the only vehicle being a green Mazda with tinted windows parked a few houses down. Sophia trotted forward, leaned down and scooped up the ball.

An engine revving broke the quiet of the little street and she straightened up, looking toward the sound while automatically moving backwards out of the street. The muzzle of an automatic rifle pointed at her through the passenger window of the green Mazda spit flame and the bullets ripped through her, tearing through her lungs and heart. She pitched forward and the tires squealed immediately after she hit the ground, like the driver wanted to be sure he had gotten his target. She heard the screams from the old women and wondered what they would say of her now. The little girl was shrieking now and Sophia looked at her hand. The blue ball was clutched in her fist.

The child's father sounded like he was shouting on a cell phone. Sophia sighed, a bubbly sound. That wouldn't work. A psychic, although no one knew, not even her parents, she was dead certain - what a pun - that medical attention would not arrive in time to save her. Lungs and heart were too badly damaged to function much longer. She stopped trying to breathe and the light faded behind the blackness engulfing her vision. The earbuds miraculously, were still firmly in her ears and the sonata still playing. The music became her sole focus point in the approaching void. Eventually that too faded and she let go completely. As her consciousness faded there was a flicker around the edges of the void that had taken her and a massive presence reached out, plucking her from its depths.

 

* * *

 

 

Sophia's consciousness blinked back into existence when the presence that had brought her out of the void cradled her to itself, nestling her in its embrace. Dark and cold. Power radiating from it enough to make her nearly drunk with it.

_What_... she thought slowly.

_—I can save you_ — It whispered through the power cradling her. _—Swear to me._ _Accept—_

_Yes. Yes._ Her thoughts were vague and desperate. She didn't want to die yet. But she was already dead. Wasn't she? The last thoughts she had before the presence cocooned her in itself and drew her somewhere else.

Darkness and warmth surrounded her on all sides. When she moved, her arm jerked awkwardly instead and hit something that made her jump at its feel, like muscle...? There was an odd sensation at her navel, she thought that something was connected to it. The warmth was liquid, she realized and it felt very much as if she were suspended in a tank of warm water, but tanks had cold hard walls didn't they? Tentatively, she reached out with her sixth sense. It seemed in better working order than her body. She stretched out her foot and cautiously touched the wall, then quickly snatched it back.

The wall was muscular. And there was another body in here with her. She could feel its tiny heartbeat, and her own through her sense. There was another louder, more powerful heart beating over them. The psychic girl had been returned to the womb.     

The more she thought the more her memories began to come back. The bus stop, the bullets, the sound of the music as the void closed around her... being drawn from darkness by swearing to... what? What was it she had sworn to?

—You swore to me so that you wouldn't die, and your soul not be sent to hell—

_Who are you?_ Sophia jerked, startled, and accidentally kicked the wall of the womb. Not having "turned off" her sixth sense, she felt the woman whose womb she was in press her hand to her stomach.

_"Goodness, Fugaku, they sure are active today."_

A warmth flowed over her mind as Sophia reached out to the woman. Love, she identified it. For her and the other person next to her in the woman's womb.

—I am the Shinigami, the God of Death of this world— The voice announced and Sophia turned her attention back to it.    

_Why did you bring me here?_

—Because I need you, of course. There is an event slated to happen that will cast this world into chaos if it is not prevented. However, there are those who want war, which chaos will inevitably bring. There is someone of our own who can stop it, but he is already marked by our enemy and therefore undesirable for our purpose. Unfortunately, no other person in this world fulfills the requirements so we were forced to seek elsewhere. We found you, and would have arranged your death had you not already been destined to be murdered. Do _not_ interrupt me until I have finished explaining. One requirement on our part be that the individual is willing to shoulder the destiny we request be borne. For this we must provide facts. ...Thank you. Now, this event you are to stop is the catastrophe of a goddess released from her confinement. Millennia ago, because gods cannot kill another of their kind, we sealed her away in order to prevent her madness from infecting the mortal world

We also sealed away her... _consort_ separately and destroyed most of her followers though some remained hidden from us. Those hidden ones have been sighted recently, and it has been reported that they have managed to discover the formulas that unseal both the consort and the goddess but are not strong enough to do both. Consequently, they must first unseal the consort and then have him unseal her. The seal holding the consort however, will take months to break due to the inexperience of the followers, and can only be done in a special type of light, as does the seal which binds the goddess—

_What do I have to do?_ asked Sophia.

—Didn't I say not to interrupt? Humans. Always so impatient— The god sighed. —Very well, little remains to explain. Your task is twofold. First you must seek out and destroy the remaining followers of the fallen one. This will not be completed before the consort is unsealed but we hope it will strengthen you so that you will be able to face the second part of your task: to defeat the consort and his minions, thus preventing the goddess' return to this world— He paused.

—This next is somewhat optional. One of my commanders has requested that you be given to him for training. I believe the idea to be sound, though I must say I do not know his reasons for it, unless it be to pass on a legacy he was left. You may accept this offer and I recommend that you do. You are not mentally a warrior, and you will not last long unless you have been trained properly— 

_I'll take all the help I can get,_ she said. _I believe you are speaking the truth about your situation despite admitting you would have killed me to further your own goals and ensuring that no matter my decision there would still be an alien world waiting for me outside the womb. Having selected me you must know of my own ability and while what you have told me so far is generalizing the situation, ensuring my entrapment in this world you've convinced me that to some extent you are desperate. The details of which will no doubt be revealed when I am able to look for them myself. I will do what you ask, and I will take the commander's offer. When...?_

—Your training will commence when Commander Minoru returns from his home. Until then, child—

_Yes,_ she whispered.

 

* * *

 

 

The Shinigami may have... understated when he told Sophia that his commander would be "training her." To the standards of her old world the activity she underwent would have been referred to as mental abuse of the highest order in any organization, military or anything else one could put a name to. Being physically still in the womb she was unable to perform in actuality the tasks she was set to accomplish mentally.

Naturally, her mental functions became razor edged. The photographic memory she had been so blessed with sharpened until it was totally eidetic, and she was capable of making split-second decisions in rapid sequences. The commander trained her mind in all the battle scenarios he felt like and was gratified to watch his apprentice blow through them like a veteran, even though he twisted them however he felt like just to catch her off center. Though with a single disturbing characteristic. His new apprentice displayed an oftentimes disgusting reluctance to kill, causing him to put her through even more scenarios designed to figuratively flay the skin off her back.

The subjects her taught her when not putting her through her paces in simulations were ratcheted up from basic levels to advanced techniques as her growth progressed. Mathematics, physics, science, right down to the arts he dabbled in were gone over and torn to shreds by them both. Even history both ancient and modern.

From the history lessons Sophia learned that her teacher's world was one of those the scientists in her own referred to as an alternate timeline. Though this one was of a post-apocalyptic nature. The series of events that led to the current state of affairs were fascinating and at several points, shell-shocking.

It turned out rather oddly that the manga world _Naruto_ was an off-shoot timeline of World War Two in her old world, and that she had been reborn into the Head Family of the prestigious Uchiha Clan of Konoha, the Village Hidden in the Leaves. She wondered why her master had sounded so gleeful when he had informed her, and was told that for decades he had wanted to obtain a follower from the Clan to take up his legacy. It turned out that a century ago, he had had a rival from the Uchiha, had lost to him and had his previous apprentice appropriated. Furious, he had gone up against his rival once more and defeated him. He did not, however, kill his old apprentice. He had left the young man alive, but had taken back the power bequeathed before the boy left.

Then Sophia came along, and a golden opportunity had risen. Minoru jumped at it, or rather, at her. She warned him that she was not truly an Uchiha but her remark was laughed away by the commander and her training continued until her delivery date arrived. Minoru told her that after she was born she would be training on her own, physically, until she uncovered the mark of legacy he had imprinted on her. Then she would be trained by the same superior who had trained Minoru himself.

The birth was easy, as far as Sophia could tell, not much time passed after she felt the first muscle contractions squeeze the womb and rupture the amniotic sac she was floating in. The fluid rushed out and she was squeezed against the other person in the womb. Four hours later an intense contraction squeezed the body next to her out, and the second pushed her out. Hands grabbed her gently, cleaned the mucus from her nose and mouth, held her feet together and gave their bottoms a sound thump. 

Her lungs spasmed and she gulped air, a thin reedy cry making its way from her throat. She made herself keep crying out to get her new lungs used to breath and air, worried irrationally for a second about the toxicity of oxygen then decided she was still too distracted with her lessons. She focused on the sensations surrounding her.

Her sight would not develop for several weeks and all she could smell was the strong coppery scent of blood mixed with the basic antiseptic scent of hospital. Her hearing and sense of touch were the only senses available, in addition to her sixth sense but she refrained from activating that one just then, the woman who had given birth to her would be severely emotional, and that would in turn affect Sophia herself to some degree.

So she just listened to the people around her, and to her sibling's wails, and wondered what her life would be like now.

 

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics indicate the actions Mika takes with her psychic abilities.

** BOOK ONE: UCHIHA **

****

** PART TWO: MIKA **

****

****

**-  
**

 

Smelling of baby powder and lotion, Sophia lay sprawled on her back in the hospital crib. Around her babies cried or slept and people pressed up against the glass of the nursery window to peer adoringly at the small bundles.

Sophia wriggled slightly, her sixth sense extended, gently brushing over the people passing outside. Her twin was in the crib next to her, fast asleep. Their father hadn't come to the hospital yet, so neither of them had been given names. Sophia wasn't too sure how she felt about a new name, but she was certain she wanted something good and solid like her old name. Someone stopped outside the nursery window and stared in at her and her sibling. She carefully reached out and _touched_.

Curiosity and a sense of calm confidence washed coolly over her mind, the thoughts deep and quick, moving like rivers. She abruptly wanted to sink into that mind and stay there for a very long time. Only once had she found a mind like this one, and she hadn't even been able to talk to the person before they had been lost in the crowd of people in the shopping center. The door of the nursery opened and the curious person and someone else -a nurse- came in. The nurse picked up Sophia, and the other person picked up her sibling.

They were carried out of the nursery down the corridor. Tuning in on the curious person, Sophia caught in his thoughts that -he- was her new older brother, and that he was worried about something. They turned into a room.

"Itachi," said a tired, happy voice, "Good morning."

"Good morning, Okaa-san," came the reply. "How are you?"

The nurse moved over to the bed, and the woman in it accepted Sophia into her arms. "A little tired but I'll be fine. How late are you?" Her voice turned stern. The door opened and closed; the nurse had left.

Itachi laughed. "Not very. Have you named them yet?"

"Not yet," the woman opened her shirt, pulling a corner of the blanket up to hide, and Sophia strangled the awkward discomfort she felt and began to suckle at the nipple put near her lips, the sweet milk flowing into her mouth. "Your father wanted to be here to name them."

"I think something came up. He rushed out before I left." A loud squalling started up. "Someone else is hungry." Itachi started cooing gently, but to no avail. 

 

* * *

 

 

Sophia lay once again in the nursery crib idly _listening_ to the people outside and to her sibling. No coherent thought came from the baby boy, only a powerful awareness of sensation and impression. Her new father still wasn't here yet, and she and her sibling were still unnamed. She was impatient, with the man and the demands of her new body, rest and food and changing her soiled diaper taking up most of her energy so that she needed to sleep most of the day away.

But eventually she told herself to calm down and observe what she could, when she could. As a baby she would be in a good position to overhear things that would tell her how this place worked. Aside from the tidbits from the manga and anime the actual workings of the ninja world had not been revealed in much detail.

Her father came finally and names were chosen. Sophia's new name was Mika, and her sibling's name was Sasuke, chosen by Mikoto, her new mother, in the hopes of him becoming as great as the ninja for who he was named: the father of the Third Hokage.

Mikoto was discharged from hospital and went home, carrying Sasuke and Itachi carrying Sophia, now wondering what her new name meant. She rested comfortably in her eldest brother's arms, _touching_ his mind again and delighting in it, and running over the minds and emotions of the people they passed in the street. Good will, love, lust, anger, disgust, impatience, happiness, sadness and every emotion she had ever known she felt in the people in the street. It seemed like any other city -no, this was a village, not a city.

"Mikoto! Itachi-kun!"

"Kushina-kun!" called Mikoto.

Sophia/Mika's ears perked up and she brushed the mind of the person who called to her mother. Kushina Uzumaki, Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune and wife of the Yondaime Hokage. She reached out and let her mind travel cautiously down Kushina's mental energy until she found what she was looking for. A dark red nexus swirled and spiked threateningly deep inside her mind as she brushed delicately across it.

_Kyuubi_.

Savage slitted eyes and gleaming fangs roared in her mind's eye. _Easy Kyuubi. Didn't mean to startle you._

—Get out—

_As you wish. My apologies._

"Kushina-kun are you all right? You look pale."

Mika instantly withdrew her senses, coiled them tight into her.

"It's alright. Just that darn fox trying to upset me again. Hello Itachi-kun. Oh, they're adorable!"

"Hello, Kushina-san."

Mika felt someone stroke her cheeks gently and turned toward the touch. Kushina's fingers were warm, calloused and under the scent of herbs, there was the smell of old metal and old blood. _I wish I could know you,_ thought Mika, and accepted that her old life was over and that she was here for a new purpose. _I'm sorry, for you and your husband. I'll try to help Naruto for you both, I promise._

"Kushina-kun, we must hurry."

Biwako Sarutobi, wife of Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage.

"Oh, yes. I'll see you later Mikoto, Itachi-kun!"

"Bye, Kushina-kun."

"Goodbye, Kushina-san. Good luck."

 

 

* * *

 

 

Ten hours later the attack came. The feelings of death and destruction so palpable that Mika could feel them burning her control away until she wanted to scream and scream and scream. She did cry, quietly whimpering as Itachi gently stroked her head and Sasuke wailed enough for all three of them. It took days for Mika to calm herself down, the horror revisiting her the day of the mass funeral for all those who had died in the attack, making her wonder for the first time if she would be able to do as required to achieve her mission.

Her eyes opened, her vision improved and she was able to see for the first time what her new family and surroundings looked like. Her mother, Mikoto, a stunningly beautiful woman with porcelain skin and onyx hair and eyes; her father, Fugaku, tall, strong with creamy skin and brown hair and eyes. The pronounced tear troughs were the only feature Itachi had inherited from him. The rest of her brother's looks were directly from their mother. Sasuke, she knew, would look frighteningly like Itachi when he was grown, but for now he was just a bundle that ate, slept and cried until her ears hurt. The only face that remained maddeningly out of sight was her own.

As soon as she could vocalize she began training her voice again. She had accepted that her purpose was different now but there was nothing that was strong enough to make her give up her music. So she trained her voice regardless of the comments the people around her made. It was, after all, the only activity that she could do without help and one that could keep her occupied for hours. She remembered all the things her trainer had done in her old world and she did them as best as she could manage until she became strong enough to move around.

When the day came that she was able to roll herself up onto hands and knees and manage a few weaving shuffles forwards she felt like she'd just won the Nobel Prize for Music, never mind she had no idea if there was a prize in that area or even that the Nobel Prize no longer existed in living memory, it was a monumental day and for the rest of it she practiced over and over. The only disappointment was that she couldn't make herself walk on the same day as well; her muscles weren't strong enough to hold her up. She needed to build them, up first and proceeded to do just that.

Sasuke, seeing that his twin was moving around rapidly, immediately began trying to crawl and was soon scrambling around after Mika as she explored the house under their mother's watchful eyes. This prompted Mika to restrict herself on the areas she wanted to explore so Sasuke wouldn't get curious about something she knew not to interfere with and hurt himself trying to play with it.

Hearing Itachi's voice in the kitchen she checked on Sasuke and finding him asleep, scrabbled out of the playpen and crawled off toward the kitchen, considering the strange fact that while she was nine years older than Itachi, she did indeed view him as her elder. She must be biased, she decided, with the things she knew about him.

"How did school go Itachi?" asked Mikoto, rattling around at the sink drying dishes.

"Well enough, but it could have gone better."

Mika peeked carefully around the door and saw Itachi seated at the low table, sipping a cup of tea. She crawled as quietly as she could towards him and he looked right at her like she knew he would. He held out his arms to her and she crawled straight into them.

"What could have gone better?" Mikoto finished drying the dishes and turning to put them away, caught sight of Mika. "What are you doing out of the playpen? I thought you were asleep."

Mika decided this would be a good time to reveal the new skill she'd gleefully re-learned last night when everyone had been asleep. She leaned back against Itachi and babbled down at her fingers, waiting for an appropriate moment to spring it on them.

"How did she get out of the playpen in the first place?" wondered Mikoto. "She only learned to crawl two days ago."

_Honestly,_ thought Mika. _Haven't you been watching me enough?_

Still babbling away, Mika began randomly including syllables of a specific word until Sasuke began to wail down the hall. After Mikoto dried her hands and went out to retrieve her son Mika began playing with Itachi's fingers. Abruptly she dropped the digits and in the most under-dramatic way she could think of, began saying _Itachi_ over and over, as if to herself.

Then she started singing it.

"Mika?"

She craned her neck and glanced up at her elder brother. "Itachi. Tachy tachy tachy, Itachi," she sang, stretching her arms up over her head. Itachi bent down and smothered her baby face with kisses.

_Well, that's kind of odd for Itachi._ She smiled. _But the lovin's nice._

 

* * *

 

 

—I don't smell anything— Ryū's feathered head cocked to one side and then the other as he stared at the house below him. He banked slowly, circling the house.

—Good. We still have to check it out—

—This is ridiculous. How can a small pink blob kill the Consort—

Ferah snarled impatiently, but he knew better than to attack Ryū in the air. Ryū would roll and dump him off his back if he wanted to.

—We can't take the chance, fool. If we find the mark then we kill quickly and surely. If not we leave. Staying too long in either case will make the shinobi notice us—

Ryū clicked his beak and dived. —But why would it be here I wonder—

 

* * *

 

 

Mika grunted and fell off the bed with a loud thump. She climbed to her feet and glared at her twin. Sasuke lay sprawled over the entire mattress, one leg stretched right across Mika's side of the bed. Mika reached out and shoved at his foot in disgust. He didn't budge and she stalked out with a scowl on her face.

_Every single night,_ she fumed. _He kicks me off the bed every night. I_ want _my own damned-_ a shudder ran down her spine. _Shit. I really need to be careful with the curses._

She was about to pass Itachi's door when she stopped in her tracks and listened intently. Carefully, she stretched out her sixth sense... hissed violently and slammed open the door. There was no one in the room, only the moonlight shining through the open windows.

"Those windows shouldn't be open..." she whispered, eyes wide. Immediately she _stretched_ her mind through the house, brushing over traces of a vile energy -in the room she and Sasuke shared. Heart in her mouth, Mika turned and ran, building up her mental power for a fight and feeling her chakra begin to stir.

Bursting through her door she ran to the bed. That window was also now open. Sasuke lay just as she had left him, sprawled out across the bed and sleeping deeply. Mika probed the shadows for hidden threats. Finding none, she bent over Sasuke and checked him over. Vital signs, mind and spirit were stable. Nothing had harmed him.

Mika straightened up in relief and strode to the window, sweeping the yard outside for anyone, anything suspicious.

Nothing.

She rested her hands on the sill and climbed out, dropping two feet to the ground and avoiding the trap under the window. Shinobi houses always had traps, even if they were simple enough that Genin could disarm them. All Mika had to do was _look_ for them and avoid them if she could.

She scouted carefully around the yard, looking for more residue of that energy she had felt in the house but finding none. Finally, she sat down on the verandah and gazed up at the sky in frustrated anger. She had memorized the energy and could recognize it again if she came into contact with it but she had no idea whose it was. It didn't feel human, that was for certain. It was similar to the energy of Commander Minoru, Kyuubi and to a lesser degree, the Shinigami's. Thus leaving the only possibility that her visitor was a demon.

Mika went inside and crept cautiously to her parent's door, delicately letting her sense brush their minds. As far as she could tell they were safe and unharmed. Now, that she thought about it, how could the intruder have gotten into the Uchiha home without alerting anyone? The battle-adept shinobi couldn't possibly have been so stupid. Perhaps it was the arrogance she saw in many of them that had allowed this to happen. Even in her mother that arrogance showed itself. The only ones she could not find it in were Itachi, Shisui, and those like Sasuke, too young to comprehend it. Her own arrogance came, regrettably, from her own rebirth and was very difficult to suppress at times.

When she had told Itachi about her rebirth he hadn't minded but oddly enough, became even more protective of her. She had been rather surprised at how well he had taken it. He had just kissed her and asked if she would tell him about her life before as she stared up at him in amazement.

"Wow," she muttered.

"What?" Itachi brushed her bangs behind her ears and fiddled with her fingers.

"I didn't think you'd take it this calmly. I thought you might get angry with me."

He laughed. "You know me better than that, Mika. I won't get angry, you're still my sister, no matter who you were before. You're _my_ baby sister now. So will you please tell me what it was like before? How old were you? How old are you now? What were you in your past life?"

She blinked at him. "What do you mean what was I in my past life?"

"What did you do? Your occupation. Did you have one?"

"Not really, I was only 15 and still in school. I was a musician though. I wanted to make music just like..." she paused. "Just like my grandfather. He was one of the great musicians in that time: Gregory Roland."

"Who's that? I've never heard of him."

Mika shook her head. "I don't think you would have. These history books... they're different. They mention things I know of but they are described as if they are myth and legend."

"History books? Have you been reading my Academy textbooks again?" sighed Itachi. "Are you from the past then, if the things you knew are legends now?"

"I guess so. I must be."

That had been the most incredible thing to happen so far and for it Mika was grateful. She went back to sit on the verandah and looked up at the moon. Not long after she had told Itachi he had been accepted into ANBU and received a mission. It was taking a while, he still wasn't back and she missed him.

Now there was some demon around the place. She really, really wished Itachi was back. She needed to start training seriously.

 

* * *

 

 

—Fool! The girl sensed us. Why were you so slow— Ryū clacked his beak in worried anger and wobbled deliberately to scare his passenger. Ferah yelped and gripped tighter. —There was no mark and the girl child sensed us! Why is that Ferah—

—I don't know— Ferah squinted black beady eyes into the wind and hunkered his gaunt, hairless body down into Ryū's feathers. —How should I know? I don't care anyway. She'll think it was some bad dream or an enemy shinobi. They all think that way in the Uchiha. Let it go, Ryū—

—No, it is said that this new servant is different from the others. We'll report it to Mistress—

—Fine. Now hurry up and get us out of here. I'm cold—

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes: Well looky, she blabbed. I did not see that coming. Wonder what else she'll do. Tell me what you think about that.
> 
> As for the bird demon and the other one, they'll be showing up a lot. I haven't managed to define a role for them to play as yet, they just popped into my head as characters. Like those two idiots in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. I can't remember their names but one of them keeps losing his eyeball. 
> 
> Anyway, I have plans for Itachi and Mika. And Sasuke and Naruto.
> 
> Read and review, if you dare.


	3. Chapter 3

** BOOK ONE: UCHIHA **

****

** PART THREE: ACADEMY  **

****

****

 

Flies and ants devoured the refuse of the market stalls on the street, dogs foraged through the gabage behind the stalls and snarled at each other and the twins stuck close to their mother's side as she went from vendor to vendor, examining wares and haggling subtly with the sellers. Sasuke and Mika watched with intense curiosity, fingering the small change in their pockets and wishing the prices were lower so they could at least haggle for something. Mika turned to follow her mother as she headed toward another stall but bumped into someone, making them drop several small packages at her feet.

"I'm sorry," she apologized, bending down to pick up the parcels.

"It's okay, just watch where you're going from now on." Mika put the parcels back in their basket and looked up at Asuma Sarutobi.

"I will. Goodbye!" She stepped away and looked around for Mikoto. She spun around twice but didn't see her anywhere. Up the street, Asuma looked back and spotted her looking around in consternation. He turned to walk back to her as she closed her eyes and turned slowly in a circle, brow furrowed in concentration.

"Are you lost?" he asked. She didn't answer for a moment, just turned slowly again as if orienting herself.

"No, I'm not lost," she opened her eyes and looked up at him, bowed slightly and trotted off. "Goodbye!" she called over her shoulder.

Asuma stared after her and then shrugged. "Lots of odd ones out there. Makes sense one of his siblings would be weird."

 

 

* * *

 

 

Sasuke raced around the room in excitement, jumping on every piece of furniture and flipping off them in a wild display of acrobatics.

"Come on Mika, loosen up for once! Tomorrow we start the Ninja Academy, aren't you the least bit excited?" He somersaulted into a heap at her feet and grinned up at her. She stared back at him mildly, unimpressed.

"Hm... Nope."

He pouted. "Jeez, why 're you so... so... unenthusiastic all the time?! You're like an old lady."

Slowly, Mika blinked at him. "Aren't you supposed to be getting ready for school tomorrow?"

Now he shifted uncomfortably. "Well... What about you? How come you're not ready yet?!"

"Packed, shined and laid out. Now come on, let's get you ready." She turned and went out.

"Aww," whined Sasuke, trailing after her. "You act like Kaa-san and Aniki way too much."

Mika laughed. "Well, when you don't want to do what you're supposed to then of course I'm going to act like them. Besides, you're important to me, so I can't help wanting the best for you." _Even if I can't always do what's best for you, or anyone else_. "I love you."

"Mika?"

"Yes, Sasuke?"

"Why 're you acting so weird?"

She laughed sharply. "I'm just a little worried about Itachi, that's all. He's isn't back from his mission yet."

"Aniki will be fine. He's really strong, everyone knows it." Sasuke's expression fell and he crawled onto his bed. "Someday I'll be as strong as he is. Even stronger," he looked determinedly at Mika. "Don't worry Mika, Aniki'll be fine."

She looked around from the closet and smiled at him. "Well, if you say so it must be true then. He'll be back safe and sound."

Sasuke nodded firmly and then peered at the clothes she was holding. "Hey, I'm not wearing that! No way!"

"But it's cute." Mika held up the red T-shirt and flicked the fluffy collar.

"Cute, my ass," shrieked Sasuke. "I'm not wearing that first day! Give it!"

"Sasuke, watch your language," she scolded and then dodged as her twin flung himself at her. "Why not? You look adorable in it."

"It's fuzzy and I refuse to wear it to the Ninja Academy. Now give it to me." He grabbed for it again. Mika sidestepped him.

"Alright. If you don't want to wear it start getting your things together then." She handed over the shirt and Sasuke buried it in the closet. "Come on."

"Fine," he muttered and began reluctantly preparing his school bag and clothes. Mika watched him, and for the first time felt something that she supposed the rest of her life would feel like after the Massacre happened. One vast stretch of terror in which all the things she loved would slip away through her fingers one by one until her mission was the sole thing she had left, and then after that she would be empty and alone. Sasuke looked up at her curiously and she quickly composed herself.

"Hmph," huffed her twin. "When I'm done here we're taking a walk. You're way too moody today. You need fresh air."

"Yes, Hokage-sama. As you command, Hokage-sama." She rolled her eyes.

"Damn straight," he sniffed.

"Sasuke!"

 

* * *

 

 

"Naruto!" yelled Iruka. "Get back here!"

"Not again," muttered Sasuke. "What did he do this time?"

"I think he put glue on Sensei's seat," Mika whispered back.

Sasuke frowned. "Well, that's tame. I wonder what's bothering Naruto today."

"Sasuke-kun, Mika! Pay attention!" snapped Iruka.

The twins buried their noses in their books again. That afternoon they went home to find their cousin Shisui waiting for them.

"Hello Sasuke, Mika. You look taller than the last time I saw you both."

"Of course, we do grow, Shisui-niisan," snarked Sasuke.

"And you've gotten quite a mouth on you too," observed their cousin.

"I wish he'd be more careful about what comes out of it," said Mika in exasperation, bending down to take off her shoes. "Where are Kaa-san and Itachi?"

"They're at a meeting. The Clan Elders wanted to talk to Itachi and they said for your Kaa-san to come too."

Mika froze, staring into space as Shisui and Sasuke went to the kitchen. Meeting? Oh no, she thought. Was it starting, the rebellion? Bile rose in her throat as she crouched on the step, the terror she had felt the day before starting the Academy rushing back with paralyzing force. Shisui came back out, a kitchen towel draped over his shoulder and drying his hands with another. 

"Mika, there's teriyaki..." he trailed off when he saw her face. Hastily, he sat down next to her. "What's wrong, Mika?"

She swallowed. "What kind of meeting are they in? Shisui?"

He frowned at her. "What do you mean?"

She stood up swiftly, leaning over him. "Don't lie to me," she forced out through gritted teeth. "What do they want with Itachi?"

He stared at her for a moment. "Do your parents know you're friends with Naruto?"

She shook her head. "No. I didn't tell them. I knew they would not approve. I didn't even tell Itachi but somehow he found out and we had a row about it. I won and you're avoiding the subject, Shisui."

"I know. Never you mind what the Elders want with Itachi. Concentrate on your schoolwork. It's not for you to worry about. Come and eat something." Shisui got up and walked back to the kitchen, Mika hot on his heels.

"I have every reason to worry about it if it's going to cost me my family," she argued. "You haven't seen Tou-san and Itachi bristling whenever they're in the same room. Tell me what's going on."

Her cousin spun around and put a hand firmly on her shoulder. "No. Firstly it is not my place to tell you. That privilege belongs to your parents or Itachi. Secondly, you are too young to understand what is going on."

Mika stepped back and glared at him. "Try me," she challenged him.

He smiled at her. "Itachi tells me you're different from Sasuke. Different from him as well, but I will not try you with this. You're not ready. Now," he straightened up. "Come and eat. I've made your dinners, afterward I'll help you with your homework." He strode determinedly into the kitchen. 

Mika stared after him, fuming. Sometimes she forgot that to others she was still six years old, and that mistake had just cost her information. She muttered a curse and stalked into the kitchen.

 

* * *

 

 

"What do you mean, she knows something's wrong?" asked Itachi. He sat up straight in panic. "She knows about the rebellion?"

"No, she doesn't. She just knows that something is wrong and that you might be in trouble because of it." Shisui lazily tossed one kunai after another at the wooden post in the center of the field. Each stuck firmly around the bulls eye painted on it. Itachi flopped back bonelessly.

"Good," he sighed. "It would be dangerous if she knew."

Shisui sighed. "Why do you think I didn't tell her what was wrong?" A pause. "I told her you would."

Itachi stared at his friend for a long time. "Ah."

"Are you going to tell her?"

"...No."

"Why not?"

Itachi would not answer.

 

* * *

 

 

Mika knelt in her underclothes at the edge of the water, focusing her mind to feel the energy flowing in her body. Foreign and difficult to manage, it was nevertheless what she needed to control. She had mastered all the basic chakra exercises except water walking. Half an hour ago she had successfully completed the tree climbing exercise.

As she began to circulate the chakra in her body she waded into the water slowly. When she was in up to her waist she lay back in the water and sank gently to the bottom of the pond. The light shimmered above her and the coolness of the water was relaxing, helping her to concentrate on the chakra in her body. Languidly, she extended her chakra, touching the rhythm of movement in the chakra of the water flowing around her and drawing that rhythm in, until her own energy mirrored the flow and she was buoyed by the energy up through the water to float on the surface.

Mika took a breath and concentrated again, withdrawing her chakra from the water, yet still keeping it moving in the same patterns as the water's. Slowly she rose, keeping the chakra moving as less and less of her body was in contact with the water, until she was standing upright on the surface. Cautiously she walked around the pond, working up to a sprint. She laughed delightedly and raced across the water to do a cartwheel, tumbling across the surface to come to a halt at the edge of the bank.

Crouching there, she focused again, letting her concentration on the water-walking technique slip to the back of her mind and pulling the chakra into a different pattern now. Mika's chakra throbbed, pulsing and flowing in a circle around her heart and lungs. She formed hand seals, feeling the chakra twist itself into the forms dictated by the seals. Chakra poured into her lungs and mixed with the oxygen in the trapped air, some of it traveled up her throat and into her mouth, coating them as protection from the next stage. Mika held the last seal just under her lips and forced heat to its apex and exhaled the oxygen/chakra mix. A huge ball of blazing white flame burst out over the pond, boiling the water and causing steam to pour upwards.

As quickly as it had come, it vanished, and Mika collapsed into the water with a soft splash. She struggled weakly up onto the bank, out of the hot water and lay there for a few more minutes, then rolled over to look at the pond. Steam still hissed up from the bubbling surface and her body felt as floppy as wet pasta. _I must have used too much chakra for the jutsu,_ she thought. _So this is what chakra exhaustion feels like... But why was the fire_ white _?_

She frowned at the water, trying to think. Weariness was rapidly creeping over her, trying to draw her down into sleep. She grunted and pushed herself  to her feet, deciding that she would figure it out when she had rested -she was having too much trouble staying awake- and began pulling on her clothes. Creating a fireball of a decent size would help getting Fugaku off her case to be as good as Itachi, not that she cared he was on her case at all. But creating an oddly colored fireball was something else entirely. It could imply certain things, it might get her noticed, and getting noticed was the last thing she wanted to do, despite the opportunities it could offer.

Mika was the kind of person to let certain things get to her head. She might be levelheaded about one thing and then fly off the handle at another. In short, she was temperamental. Mika yawned hugely and rubbed her eyes. How had a single fireball drained her chakra so badly? And she hadn't been using much chakra before on the water walking and tree climbing jutsus. She needed to research some more things it seemed. She'd borrow Itachi's scrolls later, after a good long sleep.

 

* * *

 

 

Thankfully, there wasn't anyone around when Mika returned to the Uchiha home, and she was able to bathe quickly and crawl into bed. The instant her head touched the pillow, she went out like a light and fell into dreaming.

 

* * *

 

 

She ran in darkness, swiftly, faster than she had ever run before. In fact it didn't even feel like running, it felt as though she slipped through the spaces between the wind itself. It howled in her mind, seeking to snap and rend her sanity in brilliant flashes of multicolored light. But she held fast to her intent and emerged into a flash of radiance, sliced through an exposed throat and then slipped back into the darkness. Many times more she slipped from the multicolored brilliance to take the lives of her opponents and many times more did she see what kind of weapon killed them.

It was a three pronged knife, a type of kunai used not often but enough times to become fairly popular in some circles of shinobi. One user in particular remained insistently in Mika's mind. The Yondaime... The only difference was, her blade was etched in silver and it gleamed gently when the light caught it every time she stepped from the howling darkness to kill.

This time, when she stepped from darkness with readied blade, a grotesque creature was waiting for her and lunged as soon as she appeared. Mika recoiled immediately, not from fear, but from horror. The thing in front of her bore the face of her eldest brother but the calm, stoic expression she knew was gone. Instead the face leered and drooled mindlessly, the mouth laughing and speaking such obscenities of her that she almost wept to hear. Into the darkness she stepped again, fleeing from the monstrosity and ran and ran until her churning legs collapsed and she screamed herself awake in the brightness of her own room.

Sobbing frantically, she struggled out of bed and crumpled into the pool of sunlight coming through her window, curling into herself.

"Little one..."

Mika jerked up and looked around wildly before focusing on the speaker. A massive gray wolf rose from where it had been sitting by her bedside, its yellow eyes holding her motionless as she stared into them. It came close to her and gently licked her forehead. She smelled the earthy scent of the forest, sunlight and something sweet. Warmth radiated from her forehead straight down to the very tips of her fingers and toes. Her chakra began to pulse slowly and to radiate outward in a soft white glow. After a moment the glow faded, but the warmth remained tingling through her chakra.

"What was that?" she asked breathlessly. "And who are you?"

"Come now, you really cannot recognize your teacher?" The wolf disappeared and in its place stood Commander Minoru.

"Commander!" yelped Mika, scrambling to her feet. "Er." She stared at him in puzzlement. "What are you doing here?"

"To pass on something to you, Sophia." He stretched and sat down in the sun.

"I have a new name Commander," she reminded him.

"I like your old one better. It reminds me of other times. Sit down in front of me. I have something to tell you."

Mika stepped around and sat cross legged in front of the Commander. She gestured expansively. "I'm all ears. People seem to be leaving things to me right and left. I wonder who will be the one to take everything back?"

"That depends on who you choose it to be. Now, hold that tongue of yours until I tell you. After this you will learn patience and maybe you will make that brother of yours proud."

Mika stiffened and narrowed her eyes at him. "Leave Itachi out of this."

The Commander threw back his head and laughed. "Really?" He sprang and in an instant Mika found herself face down on the warm boards with the Commander's knee in her back and his hand pressing on her head.

"Child, you will listen to what I tell you and then you will accept this legacy," he whispered in her ear. "Without its power, Sophia, your brother and twin will not die, they will be enslaved instead. And you do not want to know what enslavement to the fallen one is like. So learn some wisdom, and _be silent_." He released her and settled back. "Get up when you are ready to listen to me properly."

Minutes ticked by and Mika remained face down. The Commander waited. Finally, Mika pushed herself up slowly.

"It's not fair," she whispered. She rocked back on her heels and stared at the floor. "If any of you so much as breathe in their direction I'll kill you." She turned to face him. "Commander," her voice burned like ice. "What did that dream mean? It wasn't from the Shinigami, was it?"

"What did you see?"

"I was strong, people were running from me. But the last person I encountered was some kind of monster with Itachi's face."

"It wasn't from the Shinigami, but dreams are not often to be taken lightly. Especially by those who have been touched by gods. Keep it in mind and perhaps you will find out its meaning." He stared at her, yellow eyes cold and steady. She matched his gaze, cold fury keeping her focused.

"You were about to tell me something Commander. Please, go on."

The Commander smiled. "You know I am one of the Ōkami, the demi-gods of the mountains. Yet we too have a summoning contract. I am its holder. Now I wish to pass that on to you."

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, I'm not sure how to continue this story other than at the pace it's already at. I have one other story already up and a series and another story in the planning stages. So this, if I manage to pay attention to it at all, will not be epic length. The most it will probably be is about 40-50 chapters. I'm not going to put that in the chapter counter because, again, I'm not very sure about this story. This is also posted on FF.net under the title Uchiha Legacy. My username there is Midan no Hatake. But enjoy it and tell me what you think. Encouragement is appreciated, as always.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I have no claim to the copyrights of Naruto. Don't sue or I'll chew you. 
> 
> Last Author's Notes at the bottom. This chapter is sort of long. 
> 
> Italics indicate actions Mika takes with her sixth sense.

** BOOK ONE: UCHIHA **

****

** PART FOUR: IN MY PLACE **

 

"Alright."

The Commander stared at her and then smiled slowly. "Unlike other contracts, this one cannot be passed down randomly. The sage and then the entire clan must approve of the choice. The contract is awarded and then the new sage is trained. If he or she passes the training then they are, already, the new sage.

"Now," he got up and stretched. "You are trained to the level of a sage mentally, but you have yet to bring yourself physically to that ranking and some areas you may never fully attain. No one, after all, is perfect, sometimes not even the gods." The Commander paced easily in a circle around Mika. She closed her eyes and listened as he talked.

"Here is a problem for you now. That bloodline of your family's -forget it. You'll never be able to use it. Primarily because you are not an Uchiha. By blood, you are. But in spirit... ah, that is the crux of the problem. The blood will reject the part of you that is not of the Uchiha line and the Sharingan will refuse to activate."

Mika raised her eyebrows at this and looked up at her teacher, who immediately stepped behind her and pushed her head gently forward. Taking the hint, she closed her eyes again.

"So, you have even more reason to become my successor. Perform the summoning technique and you will be drawn to Sanmyaku no Okori, the home of the Ōkami. Fortunately for you," he smiled broadly, "the elders of the Ōkami clan have been watching you from the time you were born. They know the reputation of the Uchiha so they kept an eye on you to find out if you would take after their foolishness. Luckily you haven't. Instead you have foolishness of your own but nothing that can't be drummed out of you easily enough," he leered.

"So. I have placed my mark on you, which will identify you to all spirits that see you. All, mind you. This includes followers of the fallen one. The only humans that might be able to see it are your brother and the old Hokage. The title "Shinobi no kami" fits him well but not to the level of the previous ones. Your parents are on their way and your brother just crossed the outskirts of the village. Run along and greet them." Just like that, his presence disappeared.

Mika opened her eyes and _looked_ around. The traces of his energy remained but the Commander was nowhere in the immediate area.

 

* * *

 

 

Mika walked around the pond thinking hard, not even noticing when she walked off the bank onto the pond, reflexively channeling chakra and stalking across the water. Two weeks ago her parents had come back from a Clan meeting, her brother had come back from an S-class mission and the home had begun falling apart. Her father and eldest brother rarely talked anymore save for the biweekly lecture he gave. Shisui was dead and Sasuke had been terrified witnessing an altercation between Itachi and some members of the Police Force, the reason for it being they were suspicious of Itachi's role in the man's death and Itachi losing his temper over it.

Her twin had come running and latched on to her, pleading for her to make Itachi calm down. By the time they had run outside Fugaku had gotten there first and Itachi had regained control of himself and was apologizing to the three other Uchiha. The twins stood just inside the doorway and watched, Sasuke nearly crushing Mika's fingers he was gripping her hand so hard. Mika's heart stopped when Itachi cast a sideways glance at her and Sasuke, the pinwheel design of the mangekyo swirling in his eyes.

That night and almost every night after, Itachi had come to her room, woken her and taken her back to his bed. Clutching each other fiercely, Itachi's face pressed into her neck, she sang quietly for him every song she knew until his breathing deepened and he slept.

In frustration she paced around the water's edge, wishing for a way to vent her anger on something.

 

* * *

 

 

Naruto trudged stubbornly up the incline of the hill, heading toward the dark line of woods marking the closest of Konoha's village borders. So they wouldn't acknowledge him until he could bring back a souvenir from the battlefield, eh? He trotted up to the edge of the trees and paused there, peering into the deep shade and then plunged into the gloom. Well they would see. He'd bring back one for Hibachi too. He was going to become Hokage, and a Hokage didn't get scared like a wimp because he heard scary stories about battlefields and enemy ninja around... though he wasn't sure Hibachi should have been talking about things like that in public. Mika had been saying something the other day about mass panic, and however bossy and motherish she could get she was still right about things more than he wanted to admit.

He found a small path leading deeper into the woods and paused to consider it. The battlefield was to the northeast of the village border and the trail seemed to run at an angle to that direction. He could follow it for a while and when it veered off, step from the track and continue on his way. He set off down it. Further in the woods became quieter, soft sounds breaking the hush, animals, birds and the rustling of leaves in the wind. When the trail began to turn back in the Leaf Village's direction, Naruto stepped into the brush at the sides and pressed on to the north, going parallel to the easterly direction of the trail. A few hours later a faint stench came to the boy, bringing to memory the times he had found dead vermin in the corners of his apartment. But this smell was more ominous, and in some small shadowed corner of his mind, familiar.

The smell grew stronger and a few scattered kunai and a splash of blood on the ground told him he had reached the battlefield. He went forward and emerged into a small clearing between the trees. Kunai and blood splatters decorated the ground. A few bodies lay sprawled about, one draped over a huge gnarled root a few feet to Naruto's left. Scorch marks scarred the trees and earth and in several places the ground had been cratered. Naruto avoided looking too closely at the black, ravaged earth at the bottom of one particular depression. Most of the stench rose from that one.

He edged over to the body hanging over the massive root, staring in disgusted fascination at the slack, bloated features. The eyes were open and fixed blankly on the soil a few inches from its face. Naruto looked curiously at the earth. The corpse's hand was resting on the earth but something about its position seemed off to him. He pulled his shirt up over his nose and mouth and squatted by the dead man. Gingerly, the boy moved the hand out of the way, surprised at the flaccid way it moved. He let go and peered at the soil. The man's hand had been covering a lump the size of a small scroll. Naruto prodded it gently, half-expecting it to break and something to leap out and attack him. When nothing happened he tried to scrape the lump open with his fingers, but the earth was harder than it looked.

He stood and retrieved a kunai stuck in the root and squatted by the lump again. With the tip of the knife he carefully attempted to stab the top of the lump. The blade simply glanced off so he tried picking at the edges. The earth chipped away and soon he was able to pry up the top, revealing another kunai hidden under it. This blade was three pronged with a snow-white bandage around the handle. Naruto picked it up, dropping the other knife. The bandage wasn't a bandage at all, he saw. It was a cloth-like piece of paper, like the kind used for certain medical fuinjutsu. He unwrapped it and choked when he glimpsed the writing on the inside.

Heart hammering, Naruto skimmed over the writing quickly and then stared at the corpse's face. These were the plans for the rotations of Konoha's night guard! Was this what the battle was about? He frowned. Obviously, it was, or at least part of the reason. He tucked the plans inside his shirt carefully and peered around for enemies. Now would be a very good time to leave. Forget the dare, he needed to either take the plans back to the Hokage _right now_ or destroy them. Since he didn't know any technique to perform the latter -the paper was made of material fabricated to withstand an enormous amount of abuse; simply burning it would barely leave a mark- the only option left was to get them back to Sandaime-jiji as fast as he could.

He got up and ran from the clearing, trying to be quiet and not leave traces of his passage at the same time. Before he had gone five yards three masked shinobi dropped down in front of him. He skidded to a halt and backed away warily. The masks obscured their headbands but their uniforms... they were the uniforms of Takigakure ninja.

"What do you want?" he asked carefully.

"Hand over the cloth you just stuck in your shirt and we may let you go," replied the lead ninja.

"That's not a guarantee," Naruto shot back and sprinted away. He heard them immediately chase after him and considered. He was small, and despite his bragging and the help Mika was giving him, still in no way strong enough to take on his pursuers. Still, there was one thing that always worked on the men of the village that might buy him some time to get away.

"Sexy Jutsu!" A puff of smoke enveloped him and then dissipated to reveal a naked, buxom blonde. He blew a kiss at the ninja. "C'mon fellows, you wouldn't hurt an innocent girl would you?" he purred.

The ninja who had spoken earlier laughed. "That's not going to work on us brat." In unison the trio removed their masks.

"Women, oh damn," he cried, and took off again, the smoke of the jutsu release trailing after. He began channeling chakra to his legs to strengthen them and keep his speed up. Well, that was one thing he had going for him, his virtually inexhaustible supply of chakra. Unfortunately his body couldn't handle the strain for long so he was going to have to find some other way of-

"Naruto!" Mika leapt down next to him. Before she touched the ground she was enveloped by a cloud of smoke. A huge black wolf sprang out of it and to Naruto's side. He leapt on to Mika's back and they sped forward, the ninja chasing them crying out and racing to catch up, but the Uchiha girl was faster on four legs than two and despite Naruto's weight was slipping through the trees and undergrowth like wind.

"Thanks for finding me," Naruto yelled into her ear. "But we need to hurry or they'll catch us." In response Mika accelerated toward the main path. A crackling sound came from behind and Mika leapt to the side. A fireball slammed into a tree a few feet away, partially incinerating it. Another one landed just a little closer, forcing her to leap away from the direction of the path. She turned and ran in the direction they were being herded.

"What are you doing?" shouted Naruto. "They're leading us into a trap!"

A quiet howl was his answer and somehow Naruto understood Mika was asking him to trust her. He nodded and clung more tightly to her. They ran, dodging a few more fireballs until all the birds of the woods began chirping together. Confused, he glanced behind and saw the kunoichi behind him fall to the ground, a gaping hole in her chest. A cry from above made him look up. The second kunoichi dropped out of the trees, blood spraying from the fatal wound. The final woman was already jumping through the trees above them, hands weaving through seals before a crackling white ball exploded through her chest.

Mika slowed and trotted to a stop. Naruto clung to her until she whined and licked his arm, then he slid off her back and crowded close, eyeing the gray-haired man revealed to view as his victim slumped to the ground. Lightning chirped around his raised hand, sounding to Naruto like many flocks of birds all calling at once. A quiet pop announced Mika's release of her transformation. The man released his jutsu also and dropped down in front of them.

"Are you hurt?" he asked and reached for Naruto, who backed away slightly, eyeing his blood-coated hand.

"He's fine, Hatake-san," put in Mika. "I don't sense any injuries."

"Eh?" asked Naruto blankly as the man looked from him to Mika.

"Hatake Kakashi. He's a jōnin."

Naruto blinked at the ninja's forehead protector. "Oh. Oh yeah!" He reached into his shirt and fumbled for the plans. "Here. This is why they were chasing me."

Kakashi took the plans and looked them over. "Good work Naruto, but don't do something like that again. Those ninja would have killed you. And you Mika, be careful not to act so hastily again. If they had caught you and Naruto, you would both be dead." He looked at them seriously. "Your willingness to work together though, is an asset. Keep that up. Now, let's go." He stood up, formed a half seal and three shadow clones popped into existence at his side. Each walked toward a corpse.

"Come on you two." Kakashi waved them forward in front of him.

"Mika, how did you find me?" Naruto asked as they walked along the trail. His friend yawned and rubbed her eyes.

"I heard you went up into the hills on some dare while there were still enemy ninja about, so I told Iruka-sensei and then came looking for you."

"Oh." Naruto glanced back at Kakashi. "What would you have done if they _had_ caught us before he showed up?"

"I did have a plan for that," she replied. "They wouldn't have caught us." She lifted her hand and showed him her palm. Drawn in black ink was a seal. "The other half is in the village, near the pond where I train. If I activated it I, and whatever my chakra was in contact with would have been transported there."

"Sweet," exclaimed Naruto, peering closely at the seal. "How did you do that?"

"The seal works like a magnet. The half on my hand is drawn back to the half placed by the pond. If I'm touching someone physically or in contact with them with my chakra they'll be drawn back with me." Mika wiggled her fingers at him.

"Yeah, that's what it does, not how it does it," Naruto scoffed. "When we get back show me how, okay?"

"Sure. Get ready for some headaches." She grinned cheerfully at him.

"Pfft," he said. "I can take anything you throw at me."

 

* * *

 

 

Itachi knelt in the corner by his window, wondering what he was going to do about his brother and sister, particularly his sister. Death had different effects on people. On Mika however, it was difficult to predict the effect. She was a unique case, and he had only the time he had known her to judge by instead of her entire life. How she reacted was going to affect Sasuke and his reactions would temper hers.

The only thing he could think of that wouldn't break all of them was to tell Mika the truth and trust her to protect Sasuke. The only problem was, could she? Her friendship with Naruto, and his being the container of the Kyuubi coupled with the history of the coup-de-tat wouldn't endear them to the Council any more. It would put the Council on edge instead.

He looked out the window. The sun hung low, bloodred. It was almost dusk, almost time.

 

* * *

 

 

Mika stared out the open window, tuning out Iruka's lecture to her and Naruto about what could have happened if they hadn't been rescued by Kakashi. Halfway back to the Village a sick, cold feeling had begun to form in the pit of her stomach. Danger prickled warningly in the back of her mind as the sixth sense left from her past exploded into life. She stopped dead in the middle of the path, the breath stolen from her lungs by a sudden fear that someone she cared for was in grave danger. And then the feeling morphed into one she was familiar with. One she had felt when the blue-eyed boy at her side had been born.

She reached forward and clamped a hand on Naruto's wrist, stretching out her mind, desperately trying to find the source of the danger. Nothing in the woods gave off that feeling and she shook her head in frustration while she tried to figure out what was wrong. Kakashi's voice distracted her and she looked up at him absently and choked. The sight of his covered left eye made her realize what the warning of danger likely meant: that today was the day of the Massacre.

She swallowed the fear and got her expression under control, nodded to him and then started walking again without releasing her grip on Naruto. Kakashi took them back to class and then left. Mika instantly sought out Sasuke, evicted the girls cooing over him and sat down beside him. After school Iruka kept them both back for detention as punishment for cutting classes. Sasuke stayed behind as well to wait for Mika, and worked on his shurikenjutsu in the meanwhile.

Scribbling out the extra notes Iruka had set them, Mika kept glancing out of the window toward the Uchiha district and the darkening sky, and _checking_ on Sasuke in the training area of the school grounds. The darker the sky became, the stronger the feeling of danger became until it washed against her skin the way it had during Madara's attack on the Village.

Mika looked around. Naruto was painfully copying out notes, head bent over the pages, and Iruka was standing shuffling some papers around on his desk. He looked up.

"I have to take these papers to Mizuki. If I come back and find either one of you gone, neither of you will get break periods for the rest of the week."

She and Naruto mumbled obedience and he went out. Instantly, Mika reached into her book bag with her free hand. Pulling out the small black bottle of ink she kept in one of the pockets she slipped under her desk and called a small flame in her left palm.

Working quickly, she uncorked the bottle and channeled chakra into the ink and blood mixture, drawing some of it out in a controlled stream. The thick drop of liquid floated cupped in the palm of her hand, glinting darkly in the light of the flame. She wiggled her fingers and it smeared itself over their tips. Mika carefully drew a seal on the underside of the desk exactly like the seal she had placed by her pond. When she finished setting the seal fire flared up her hand, burning away the ink stains.

She packed up her bottle and sat in her bench again just as Iruka walked back into the classroom. Hurriedly she bent her head over her book and after a few moments of Iruka doing nothing, concluded he hadn't noticed anything. Mika pulled the papers together and stuffed them into her bag.

"Iruka-sensei," she said. "I'm done."

He looked up from his work and frowned at her. "Good. You may leave. Good evening Mika."

"'Bye Sensei. Later Naruto," she called and ran outside to the training area. Sasuke was yanking kunai and shuriken from the posts and dropping them into a pouch. He looked around and grinned at her.

"I knew you were coming out now so I decided to finish up a few minutes ago." He yanked some more kunai out of the posts, dropped them in the bag and tied it shut. "And seriously, what happened that made Naruto run off like that?"

"Hibachi and his little gang tried to trick him into a stupid dare. I went after him to make sure he didn't get hurt."

"Huh," said her twin. He picked up his schoolbag and dropped the weapons pouch into it, then slung it over his shoulder. Mika shook her head.

"No, I want you to stay here."

Sasuke chuckled and then took in her expression and body language and with the strange instinct of twins asked gravely: "What's happening?"

"I don't know. All I know is I don't want you to go home with me. Stay here, the Academy is next to the administrative buildings. There's always someone here, you'll be safe."

He shook his head. "I'm coming with you." He cut off her protest. "And what do I do if whatever happened at home affects you and takes you away from me?"

"You'll stay alive and keep Naruto and everyone else safe from it," she said harshly. "That's what you'll do."

"Alive?!" he gasped. "Mika what's wrong? What's going on?"

"I don't know. But I don't want you anywhere near it. I want you here, safe."

"No," he said again. "I'm coming with you and there's nothing you can do about it."

 _Nothing you can do about it..._ Mika stared at Sasuke and heard the words echo through her mind. "There will be something I can do about it." Her face hardened. "Give me your hand. Don't let go of me." She turned and leading Sasuke by the hand, walked out of the Academy into the miasma of death emanating from the Uchiha District.

 

* * *

 

 

"Mika, what's that smell?" whispered Sasuke. The wind was blowing strongly, and the scent that wafted to them was animalistic and ripe with devastation. The instant Mika had tried to use her sixth sense to find the rest of her family the death aura had hit her so hard her mind reeled and she almost fell. Sasuke had caught her and shaking her, demanded to know what was wrong. With an effort she wrenched herself back from unconsciousness and began leading them forward again, tucking her sense tightly into herself, not daring to use it again.

For someone allied with the Death God, it was strange that she would be so affected by it. But perhaps it was her own death that made her so weak at the sight, and she wondered morbidly again how she would ever carry out the killings she was going to have to perform. She held Sasuke's hand tighter and gathered her chakra, focusing it into her palm, into the seal hidden there, just under her skin waiting to be put to use.

They turned a corner and almost walked over a body laying face down in the street. Sasuke jerked back with a small cry, staring wide-eyed at the body and then down the street to their house. Mika pulled him to her side, squeezing his hand gently. He shuddered and then took the lead, threading his way between the other bodies in the street and trying to find paths around the pools of blood.

They entered the dark house, Sasuke still leading Mika, and stopped just inside the entranceway. He pulled Mika up right behind him, and taking a deep breath, started deeper in. They began from the kitchen first and then worked their way to the large room that was used for training when their father worked with them. Mika reached around Sasuke and slid the door open gingerly, extremely reluctant and terrified and miserable because she _knew_ what was behind the door, and she felt like there was every reason in the world to knock out Sasuke and face Itachi by herself.

But he pushed forward and stepped inside, and from that point on she was powerless to stop the flood of events that proceeded from that single action....

Their mother and father lay, surrounded by a darkly glinting pool of blood, the redness spreading out and holding within its horrible color it seemed, all the darkness of the Uchiha Clan. Sasuke's grip on Mika's hand tightened until the appendage went numb as Itachi stepped out of the shadows behind them. The twins turned to gaze at him. His features seemed to be carved from marble as the moonlight fell on his face. The mangekyo sharingan glowed a demonic red as it swirled into their minds, pulling them into a red mirror world.

Sasuke groaned and collapsed unconscious into Mika's arms. She sank to her knees under his weight and cradled him to her, keeping her gaze silently on Itachi. Wordlessly, tears beginning to flow from his eyes he knelt at her side and clasped them both to his chest, burying his face in her hair. After a moment he pulled away and wiped his face. She leaned forward and gently kissed his mouth. He let her for a moment and then touched her cheek. Mika pulled back and looked at him sadly.

"They ordered you to kill the Clan," she whispered.

He shook his head. "Danzō gave me a choice, kill everyone else and save you two, or be killed with you and not be able to save anyone."

"So you saved us."

"Yes," he stroked Sasuke's cheek. Steadily the silence grew thicker, tenser, as they knelt there. Unconscious, Sasuke was blissfully unaware of the tension that grew between his brother and sister.

"Couldn't you take us with you?" blurted Mika finally. Immediately she was sorry it had slipped out. Itachi tensed up like a drawn bow, his fingers curling against Sasuke's cheek. He looked at her, eyes unreadable, the emotions flickering through them too fast for her to read.

"You know I can't."

She slumped in defeat. "I'm sorry."

He kissed her. "I have to leave. Take care of Sasuke and the Village for me." He held up his hand. "If you need me, use this." He fastened a necklace around her neck. Outside of the red monochrome of the Tsukuyomi world its color would be silver. Two small circles flanked a center pendant in the shape of a wolf's fang.

"You borrowed most of my scrolls and memorized the contents. You know how to operate a seal like this one. _Only use it when you have no other choice_. I will be here when you need me." He kissed her again and Mika surrendered to the sleep he pressed upon her.

 

* * *

 

 

Itachi caught his brother and sister as they toppled gracefully to the floor. There was so much he wanted to say, so many things he wanted to do but he had to leave them here with nothing except the Sandaime standing between them and execution. He laid them next to each other and from his pocket withdrew the same necklace he had given Mika in the Tsukuyomi.

Fastening it around her neck he bent and kissed her gently, suddenly wishing that he hadn't made a practice of asking her to sing him to sleep. It would only make it harder to rest when he wished for her presence. Itachi brushed Sasuke's bangs out of his face and kissed his forehead, silently asking him to look after Mika, to be strong.

He looked at them laying there on the floor, bathed in the moonlight pouring in through the window. _They look so pure..._ he thought wonderingly, and silently began to weep again. He bent and kissed them fiercely, scrubbed his tears away, and left before he could change his mind, take them and run as far as he had to, as long as he had to in order to keep her with him.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All right, I admit the ending is sort of sappy for Itachi but I was watching The Great Gatsby when I was writing the end. As for all the kissing, well they're (Mika and Itachi) both strange people and it seemed to fit their relationship in my mind. Be aware there's nothing going on between them. 
> 
> The next chapter will contain oddness and the beginning of several surprises. At least I hope they'll be surprises and that I'm not as predictable as a cat on catnip. 
> 
> ...When I wrote this I was high on caffeine.
> 
> I would like to say that I have something witty and memorable to place in the final Author notes but I don't. So, I'll just make a wish that I'll be as good as I can be at writing this story and that you'll continue to enjoy this and all the other ones that will be created after this.


	5. Chapter Five

** BOOK ONE: UCHIHA **

****

** PART FIVE: IF I SCREAM **

 

 

Mika stirred slowly, feeling the coolness of the sheets and the warmth of Sasuke's nearness. Reflexively, she rolled over and wrapped her arms around her twin, drowsily nuzzling closer. She drifted closer to sleep, dreaming of sweetness and light, until the door clicked closed and through her mind the events of the past night replayed themselves in one dreadful flash. Feeling as if she was teetering on the brink of a bottomless hole, she concentrated on the warmth and familiar scent of her twin. Something touched her... fluttering on the fringes of her awareness... some kind of threat was near again. Her eyes opened and fixed dangerously on the person watching her and her brother. Danzō simply gazed at them steadily. She shifted slightly and saw Sasuke was still asleep.

Mika pulled him closer, careful not to disturb him and then looked expectantly at the Elder standing before her.

"Are we in the hospital?" she asked. Sasuke stirred and she looked away long enough to soothe him back to sleep. She wanted to talk to Danzō first and then deal with Sasuke.

"Yes. You've been here for a few days. Do you remember what happened before you fell unconscious?"

Mika opened her mouth to answer but the opening of the door cut her off.

"Ah, Danzō," said the Sandaime, "you're already here to pay your condolences, how polite."

_No doubt..._ thought Mika sardonically, looking down at Sasuke as he stirred again. If he woke up she was going to have a difficult time getting what she wanted from the Hokage. In addition, Danzō's presence was complicating things unnecessarily. She couldn't so much as breathe about Itachi for fear he would kill them then and there, or at least not long after.

"Mika-chan, how are you feeling?" asked Sarutobi.

The look she sent him was blisteringly furious. "I'm fine, Sandaime-sama," she drawled, sarcasm oozing from every syllable, and didn't miss that there was absolutely no expression on Danzō's face when she said it. "Just peachy..." She took a breath and _reached_ out. Sasuke had stirred again, and she realized he wasn't asleep. With a discomfited feeling she realized that she could get the Hokage to answer her question and take some of the spotlight off her by getting Sasuke to ask the question instead. She pressed her forehead to his.

"Hey," she whispered. Reluctantly Sasuke opened his eyes. The look in them nearly made Mika fall into the darkness she felt earlier in her mind. She hauled herself out again and stroked his cheek. "Sasuke?"

He rolled over and buried his face in her shoulder. "Mika, what happened? They were all dead... What happened?"

_Well..._ She glared at the Sandaime, silently willing him to answer. "I don't know," she said finally. "Maybe Sandaime-sama and Danzō-sama can tell us."

The Hokage sighed mentally. Itachi had warned him to expect her to know much more about what went on than what he first expected. The fact that she had included Danzō in her statement was a possible affirmation of the warning and also the extent of her knowledge. And that look on her face... so much like her brother, yet there was someone else looking out at him. To his surprise, Danzō did nothing extreme and indicated that he should do the explaining. Very quietly and soberly, he explained to the two children the version he had prepared. Predictably Sasuke went into hysterics and Mika immediately slapped him, whereupon he lapsed into broken sobbing and she gathered him to her again.

However, when Danzō stepped forward to put him to sleep, Mika glared warningly at him and watched him balefully as he placed his hand on Sasuke's forehead. Not until her twin fell asleep did she take her eyes away from the aged shinobi. He stepped back and Mika rearranged Sasuke gently on the pillow, and then gave them both the stank eye.

"You seem to be taking this very well, Mika-chan," remarked Danzō.

She looked at him poisonously. "It's no good if me and Sasuke snap at the same time. One of us has to stay. If you don't have anything else to say, leave so I can get some sleep."

"Very well, but one thing. If Itachi should return someday, it will be your responsibility to take him down or assist in it," said Danzō.

Slowly Mika nodded, watching Danzō carefully as he turned and left the room. She didn't take her eyes from the doorway until the tapping of his cane faded down the hall. She shifted her gaze to the Sandaime until he bid her good rest and left as well. Instantly she took a deep breath and _looked_ at Sasuke, trying to figure out what exactly Danzō had done to him, if he had just put him to sleep or gone even further. So far she couldn't _see_ anything, even when she placed her hand where Danzō had placed his.

Her brother seemed to be simply sleeping soundly but whether there was anything ominous behind that sleep she couldn't tell, not yet anyway. She cursed again. While she wanted to believe that Danzō thought her and her twin not very much of a threat now, his order to Itachi to either kill or be killed wasn't very encouraging. So now her trust in Sasuke had been severed. She rested her head back on the pillow and wept quietly, until she too, slept.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Ferah squinted at the dark boy standing in the doorway facing the two other humans. That child somehow struck terror into his partner in a way he couldn't describe. Ryū wasn't often reduced to a quivering mass of feathers and beak. The bird demon was thousands of years old and stupid as a log. And the fact was this was the wrong person to be afraid of; his youngest sibling was the one to fear, the Warden the gods had chosen to end the patron goddess of the two demons. Yet despite that fact, the stupid bird refused to come within a mile of the boy, leaving Ferah to shadow him alone.

That was another thing annoying Ferah. Ryū didn't often pull age on him but right now he was demanding that the boy be tailed closely. Whatever for? Yes, he had just killed his entire clan but it was obvious that he had no intention of killing the Warden or the other sibling. Come to think of it, it would be a favor if the boy did kill the Warden. But then... He narrowed his eyes. Perhaps Ryū had received some instruction that he hadn't told Ferah about concerning the Warden's eldest sibling. He eyed the boy. Perhaps...

He settled down to his task wondering how long Ryū would keep him at it. After a week he surmised that the bastard bird intended to keep him on this task forever. The weather had turned bad and rain poured nonstop the day the three rogues left their hideout. The masked one traveled with the boy and the one with the piercing's for a while and when Ferah looked away for a moment to snuffle some water out of his face the man disappeared. Ferah felt a jolt of fright and looked around wildly, trying to see if the human had sensed his presence and was launching an attack. There was no trace of the masked human. Literally. Not even a scent, not that Ferah's nose was very good. Finally he settled down again and when the other two moved off he resumed his tracking.

During the next three wet, cold weeks he spent tailing the duo he was sure that more than once the dark boy had sensed him. More than once he felt like hiding somewhere very, very remote and safe. And yet, he still didn't understand why the boy made him feel this way... It was ridiculous, that was what it felt like. Being utterly, completely ridiculous.

Finally, he stopped about twenty minutes behind them and waited. After a while he snuck forward. They had crossed a border and gone into Amegakure. Ferah scowled. Now he realized who the pierced one was. That was the Amekage, the leader of the Hidden Rain Village. The man harbored rogue ninja? Well, there were other villages that did the same. It was still a way to have an elite force when necessary.

He shuffled forward towards the border. An instant before he stepped over rain began to fall. He jerked back and squinted at it. The rain wasn't falling precisely on the imaginary line that marked the boundaries of the village but a few meters beyond it as well, rapidly soaking him. The odd thing about the rain was that there was energy in it. Someone was making it fall with a jutsu.

He retreated into the brush and squatted, licking the water from his black wrinkly skin. Perhaps he wouldn't dare entering the village itself just yet. The dark boy might want to stay there for a time to rest before taking up missions for the Amekage. He wriggled into a more concealed place in the brush and opened up the pocket of space that would take him back to Ryū.

When he stepped through the other side of the portal Ryū was tucked up in a greasy mottled heap in the crook of a branch, fast asleep. He contemplated his partner only a moment and then slithered down the trunk to gather some fresh fruit some distance away from his partner's tree. Ryū had made his camp in an peach farmer's orchard and the fruit were large and succulent. The farmer would be coming any day now to harvest his crops if he hadn't started already.

Sighing, Ferah settled down in a patch of sun for the moment, soaking up warmth. When most of the cold was gone and he felt better rested he climbed back up Ryū's tree, gave him a swift kick and scuttled away to the farthest end of the branch. The bird demon woke in a fury of thrashing wings and snapping beak. Realizing there was no particular threat he settled on the branch and began to smooth his feathers, glaring at Ferah with a nasty baleful look in his eye. When he finished preening he eyed Ferah.

"Well?" he croaked. "Where is the boy?"

"In Amegakure working for the Kage of that village. It turns out that the Amekage is the puppet leader of a band of rogue ninja. The true leader is another of the Warden's clan that no one seemed to know about except her eldest brother." Ferah smiled maliciously.

"Tell why you're so scared of him. The masked leader helped him slaughter the Warden's clan. He can't be that powerful. He wouldn't even kill the Warden and the other child."

Ryū snapped at him and he dodged. "Don't joke about this. You would do well to find out what the boy is capable of. It only takes a small thing to turn a war."

"Why do I have to find out? If you're so worried you go do it. Engage him in battle or something." Ferah scowled, a frightful image. "Why are you so worried about him anyway?"

"Because we don't know if the girl is really the Warden or not and we can't take the chance that it's her brother instead. So you're going to shadow the eldest brother and I'll shadow the girl."

Ferah carefully kept his opinion of this to himself. Truthfully, he'd rather the Consort sent someone else to do this. All he wanted right now was to eat some more peaches and fall asleep in the sun. Besides, hadn't the signs already been filled by the girl-child? She had all the characteristics of the creature chosen by the other gods to be the Warden; that weird ability that nothing to do with chakra was the clincher. With it she had sensed the two of them when they had investigated her house. Chances were, when she became stronger she would find the spy-seal they had placed on her twin.

He nodded and went down the tree again before Ryū could find something to carp about.

 

 

* * *

 

 

_"Salve, Regina, mater misericordiae:_

_Vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve._

_Ad te clamamus, exsules, fliii Hevae..."_

Mika sang the _Salve Regina_ softly, cradling Sasuke's head on her chest. She gazed out the window at nothing in particular and let the familiar words drift through her mind.

 

_"in hac lacrimarum valle._

_Eia ergo, Advocata nostra,_

_illos tuos misericordes oculos..."_

Sasuke sighed and rolled over in his sleep. She pulled him back gently so he wouldn't roll off the bed. They had spent more than three weeks in the hospital while they were evaluated mentally and physically, endless prodding and poking of their bodies and minds until Mika felt sure that if she saw _one more_ white coated figure she would blaze them to ash. She hung on to her temper though, purely for Sasuke, who was certainly worse off than her with recurring nightmares and a severe depression.

He wouldn't eat or drink much of anything. The doctors had to tube feed him a few times to keep him from collapsing in the next five minutes. The nightmares though, those were what freaked her out. He could live even if he didn't eat much but when he slept and suddenly went rigid, eyes flying open wide and glazed she could only sit there and watch him closely in case something happened. If it did she would yell to get the doctor or a nurse. The first few times she had tried to wake him from this he had snapped and begun screaming until his throat bled. The time she had tried to waken him using her _sense_ then she had been gripped by pure debilitating terror and vomited all over the floor while Sasuke screamed in the bed.

Eventually she figured out how to rework his dreams and ease him away from the nightmare, and if it was too strong she could smooth over some of the things that might trigger that non-responsive state. After this the dreams eased and Sasuke slowly, very slowly began pulling himself together. Mika begged the Hokage into letting her take Sasuke out of the hospital. They wouldn't go back to the Uchiha Compound yet but to a small apartment paid for out of the Konoha Orphan's Fund.

Fortunately, it was located in the same building as Naruto's small apartment. So when she needed help with Sasuke she could get Naruto to come over. In return she took care of all three of them, seeing to it that they ate properly and their apartments were tidy. The three became a sort of surrogate family to each other and practically lived in both apartments, so much so that Naruto one day called her "nee-san" as a joke and wound up using it constantly. 

It gave Mika a hell of a headache sometimes when she thought about what she was doing. Often she would go to the pond where she trained and meditate for awhile. Often she was tempted to scream. Taking care of two messed up boys and trying not to mess herself up at the same time was trying.

For example, Naruto was as much a prankster as ever, and the things he got up to put Mika in hot water more than once getting him out of it, once literally. Add that Sasuke got crazily high when he ate sweets and you had her tripping out to scare the dead.

"Naruto!" hissed Sasuke. "What are you doing? She'll be here in a minute, hurry up!"

"Alright!" Naruto snapped. "There, done. Go!"

The two boys scrambled down the roof to hide under an overhanging piece of zinc. Soon after Mika came jumping across the rooftops, pausing every so often to look around. She glanced at the piece of zinc that they were hidden under and they both held their breath.

She smirked and strolled over. Halfway across the rooftop she paused, looked down and yelped when the roof caved in, taking her with it. The two pranksters cackled and high-fived each other.

Mika reflexively twisted and landed on a hot, liquid surface. Automatically channeling chakra to her feet she coughed and sneezed, rubbing dust out of her eyes.

"Naruto," she coughed. "Sasuke... you brats.." She opened her eyes and blinked. Standing in front of her were five men. The only covering they wore were towels around their waists. The best part was, one of the men was Kakashi.

"Damn." She looked up at Naruto and Sasuke's faces peering through the hole in the roof. "I'm going to roast the two of you." She smiled cheerfully. "Run."

She jumped right back up through the hole in the roof and made a grab for the nearest boy. Both of them poofed into straw dolls. She scowled and looked for their chakra. Both were rapidly heading toward the training ground they used.

_'Pah, brats. They're gonna pay for pushing me into the men's bath house.'_ Mika snuck a look through the hole in the roof. The room was empty. Kakashi and the other men must have left. She shook her head and jumped to the next rooftop. This is what she got for not checking Naruto's pockets when he came in wearing The Look that morning.

She should have known that he'd hype up Sasuke on sugar, she groaned mentally. The three of them would get in trouble again with Sandaime if she didn't get hold of the two and make them train it off. The problem was, when they'd covered everything in that year's syllabus for the Academy by themselves already and were halfway through the next year Naruto and Sasuke had gotten bored and ran off when she insisted on practice. That was three weeks ago and she hadn't managed to collar them yet since Sasuke had slept over at Naruto's for the duration.

' _What can I come up with that would catch their attention enough to exhaust them?'_ She reached the Hokage monument and sat down atop her favorite carving, the Nidaime Hokage's stone head.

"I don't suppose you've any ideas, Ojii-san?" she addressed the stone beneath her. "But then I suppose you wouldn't approve of my taking care of Naruto, or of me and Sasuke." She smiled. "You were the most serious of the bunch, weren't you?"

She lay back and stared at the sky. A breeze tickled her face and she squirmed contentedly. Most people didn't bother with the stone faces as a hangout spot and those who did wouldn't go when they saw someone else there so Mika was perfectly alone. The clouds were sparse and strung themselves along the blue background like little threads.

Mika stared at them and checked again for the boys' locations. They had reached the training ground and were just sitting there or something. She closed her eyes and began running through the techniques she had learned from Commander Minoru. Some of them she had worked on and developed very well so far, her sensory ability was one. All, however, needed to be tested in actual battle.

She looked for a suitable one to sufficiently occupy Naruto and Sasuke. Suddenly, she smirked.

'Eureka.' She jumped off the monument and headed to the boys' location. This would be a combination of punishment for making her fall into the men's bath house and a sort of reward for using a explosive seal so well, even though it was a very crude version. They could have taken out the entire roof if they hadn't somehow put a containment seal around it, limiting it to that one spot. They must have been watching her training with seals one afternoon because that was the exact result she had been toying with during that session.

_'Well, let's see how well they do with this,'_ she chuckled.


	6. Chapter Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I have no claim to the copyrights of Naruto. Don't sue.
> 
> What the fuck. How did Jiraiya get in here? Also, Mika is sort of a hypocrite.

** BOOK TWO: SEALCRAFTER **

****

** PART ONE: LEVEL ZERO **

****

"Mika, we're leaving now!" Sasuke yelled over his shoulder. He pulled on his boots and headed out, Naruto following behind him.

"Bye Mika!" yelled the blonde, and slammed the door, breaking into a trot to catch up.

Inside the apartment Mika surveyed her severely depleted fridge and sighed. She was going to have to skip classes again. Not that it made much difference to most of her grades, she aced them with barely a glance, but Iruka was going to chew her head off because she had taken so many days away from the Academy this month.

Singing wordlessly, she riffled through the fridge's meager contents, making a mental list of what she needed for the three of them, things she wanted for the boys, and what she could actually afford to buy from pooling the allowances they received from the Orphan's Fund. She shut the door and went over the other things they needed for the apartment. Finished, she grabbed her billfold and a storage scroll, and then went over to Naruto's to borrow a few ryō from the stash he kept in the little pocket of space in one of the boards of his bed.

Usually she had to buy enough for two weeks, she mused as she put a seal on the floor and locked up. If anyone tried to get in she would know. Most of the traps set up in and around the apartment weren't enough to deter anybody who really wanted to enter, they were courtesy really, but the seal would tell her if anyone did and more specifically, who entered.

She really needed to work on a more permanent version of that seal. It was only temporary and went off as soon as one of them came home, making her have to apply another one the next time no one would be home. Twice now someone had come in and she had had to replace it. Both times it had been someone she assumed was from either the Hokage or ROOT. It nagged at her soul that she couldn't make it sensitive enough to distinguish yet between a ROOT shinobi and an ANBU –or a demon. Seeing as how she'd never met a ROOT shinobi, only ANBU she couldn't tell the differences between the chakras. She knew that ROOT suppressed their emotions and she could detect that -but only when she was physically present. Her seals were nowhere close yet to that level of sensitivity yet. She didn't doubt that it was possible for a seal to have been created for such a purpose but she'd never heard of it.

Remembering the Yondaime, her mind drifted to his teacher. She supposed to become a seal master she would have to follow his example and wander, or become like Orochimaru. She cocked her head.

Orochimaru... Well. She carefully stowed that beginning of a train of thought she wasn't sure she wanted to pursue in a little box and put it away, then sang wordlessly again until she managed to slip back into a calmer state. She looked up and saw the supermarket around the corner and broke into a jog, eager to lose her mind in the routine of shopping. Grabbing a cart she took a deep breath and resisted the urge to liberally pull items from the shelves as she spotted them when she started down the first aisle.

They weren't starving by any standards but due to her past experiences Mika had idealized and set principles of how children should be nourished, and what she had now did not meet those principles to her satisfaction. So she always resisted the urge to buy and planted her mind firmly on the list she compiled. Thankfully, the supermarket afforded discounts to the orphans going to the Academy, so there was a bit of extra room, but only a bit.

"Mika-chan," scolded one of the clerks. "You're skipping again?"

She nodded. "Yes, we needed some things and the apartment needs to be tidied." Of course, if they knew that she shopped not just for herself and Sasuke but for Naruto as well, she could lose the kindness that the shop owners showed her. They knew they were friends but they didn't know that Mika was the reason Naruto didn't look a street urchin these days.

"I hope your grades aren't slipping," he commented as he pulled down a few bottles that Mika couldn't reach and placed them in her cart. "You need to get strong so you can protect the village."

Mika peered into the cart. "My grades are perfect Hiro-san –but those aren't on my list."

He waved her off, laughing. "Don't worry about it, it's on me."

She smiled warmly and bowed. "Thank you, Hiro-san. You are very kind."

He chuckled and ruffled her hair. "It's ok, Mika-chan. Do you need anything else?"

"Yes." She rattled off the list she had made and Hiro helped her get things down from the shelves and wheeled her cart to the cashier. Inwardly, she flinched when she saw the total but kept her face calm and paid the bill. It wasn't as much as some days but it was still enough to make her clap a protective hand over her pocket.

Smiling apologetically at the two employees, she unrolled the storage scroll and sealed all but the eggs into it. When the items were summoned out of the scroll there was a release of pressure and though she knew it wasn't enough to break the eggs she was still paranoid enough about it to hold them physically. Of course, she could just raise chickens and not worry about it. But she needn't have been concerned about the two being offended. The clerks clapped and oohed over her action.

She smiled and left, carrying the scroll in one hand and the bag of eggs in the other. Hiro thought she was cute, she chuckled. How amusing. Most of the boys her own age thought she was horrible, mostly because none of them had hit puberty yet.

Boom.

The word hit her like a fist. Oh. No. She stopped in the middle of the road in dismay.

_Puberty._  

She shuddered. What was she going to do? Well she remembered the horrors of the time she had gone through it before, and was _very_ glad that she had that experience to draw on now but how was she going to handle two hormonal boys, one of whom was already a miniature pervert? She prayed Sasuke's current personality wouldn't allow him to become the asshat he had been in the previous timeline before she had come. She also prayed that Naruto wouldn't corrupt her brother unduly with that perverted little brain. Slowly, she resumed walking.

What about Sandaime? He'd dealt with raising a boy... but then Sandaime was a man... He wouldn't know how to help a girl help a boy with puberty. Oh, why didn't this cross her mind sooner? Who else did she know who raised a child of the opposite sex? Other than Yamanaka Inoichi, who raised a daughter, none. Maybe she could ask Shikamaru's mother how she dealt with it. Or... maybe not.

Puberty. She _loathed_ it, and was certain that it would drive her mad when it reared its ugly head in her two boys. This must be why parents were so horrified when their children acted out. She grimaced. That would just have to be dealt with when the time came. She caught a movement from the corner of her eye and dodged out of the way, narrowly avoiding a cackling little kid before something slammed into her back, pitching her forward. Mika dropped the scroll and stretched out her free hand, automatically channeling chakra through it to keep it undamaged.

She landed heavily on her knees, clutching the eggs carefully to her chest. Furious, she got to her feet and looked around for what had knocked her down. There was no one in sight except the people in the street staring at her. She glared and picked up the scroll she had dropped, retreating into the entrance of a shop to check the condition of the eggs. Most of them had slight cracks but the shell of one had split right around the middle, the white slowly oozing out.

Mika ground her teeth in frustration. There were times when she wanted to turn random brats across her knee and spank them soundly for not having any manners. This was one of those times. What the _fuck_ had slammed into her? She glared up the street in the direction he had gone.

She growled and started walking down the street again. _Brat._

 

* * *

 

When she got home she saw the oddest person she would expect hanging around outside her and Sasuke's apartment.

"Jiraiya?" she muttered in confusion, staring suspiciously at the white-haired man in front of her. "What are you doing here?"

"Didn't your parents teach you to respect your elders, brat?" he drawled, staring at the door across from hers.

_Ah,_ she thought sardonically. _He's checking up on Naruto._

"Hm." She placed a hand on her door, deactivating her seals and then unlocked it. "My parents are dead. Naruto's not home, by the way." She stepped inside, gingerly setting down the eggs. When she bent over to take off her shoes, pain erupted in her side.

"Owwww..." she hissed.”What the-?" she raised her shirt and examined her side. A big bruise was forming there.

"I'm surprised a brat like you would know my name," commented Jiraiya lazily, leaning in her door and peering at her exposed skin. She dropped her shirt and hurled a boot at him. He picked it out of the air and flung it back at her head. She caught it and dropped it next to its mate and waved him in, cautiously picking up the eggs and scroll. Jiraiya slipped off his geta and followed her in.

"Don't you know it's not a good practice to invite total strangers into your home?" he asked as he followed her into the kitchen. "What if I was a pedophile, or a rogue ninja or an assassin?" He sat down at her counter and propped his chin in his palm.

She snorted at the last one. "You are Jiraiya of the Sannin and the Yondaime's former sensei. You're also a legendary pervert who writes erotica. Which isn't half-bad by the way. You should ease up on all the graphic sound effects and get a better illustrator."

She removed the broken egg from the container and emptied the contents of the shell into the bowl she took from a cabinet.

"How did a ten year old get her hands on one of my books?" the Sage gawked.

"Henged into my adult version and took it when no one was looking, which was ridiculously easy." She caught the look Jiraiya gave her. "What? I was bored with the books in the children's section and I can't go into the adult section looking like the real me." She unsealed the groceries and began putting them away.

"Let me see your adult version," he requested, producing a notebook and pen from somewhere on his person. Mika glanced at them and shook her head.

"What do I get in return? You can't use me for one of your bases for free."

The Sage scowled. "What makes you think I'd use you for one of my bases? And how do you know about that?!"

She smiled benevolently at him. "Lucky guess? And it's more of a teenage version, really. Take a good look at me and tell me what you think I'll look like when I'm sixteen."

Jiraiya stared at her while she finished putting the groceries away and then leered, bent his head over his notebook and scribbled away frantically. She stared at him for a second and then padded over to see what he was writing. The page was blank. She looked up at him and found him smirking at her.

"Are you using chakra ink or did you just use a jutsu?" she grouched. Ink was the more likely. Someone as old as Jiraiya wasn't one for unnecessary waste.

"Ink, shorty, and I think you'll look like a harridan." He tapped his chin thoughtfully. "I think I'm going to use you for the big bad ugly one that wants to take away the heroine's true love."

"Hm. Wait here." She went into the living room and pulled down a book from the shelf there. Padding back into the kitchen she handed it to Jiraiya. "Sign this please."

He took it and blinked. The Sage was holding a copy of the first book he had ever written. He stared at her and Mika held his gaze, trying desperately not to grin broadly. "It's supposed to be Naruto's birthday present because he and the main character have the same name." She lost the battle and the grin blazed out. "It would be nice if you could autograph it. Pretty please?"

He stared at her for a long moment and then looked back down at the book.

"You _are_ a brat," he sniffed. "But since you asked so nicely, I'll sign."

She clapped her hands together and laughed. "Thank you very much, Jiraiya-sama. Naruto's going to love this."

The Sage harrumphed and held up the book, showing her the freshly scrawled signature. _To Naruto, from Jiraiya and Mika-nee._

"Why'd you put that?" she frowned.

"It's your present," he said innocently, handing her the book.

She sighed, and then smiled. "It wasn't quite what I intended but thank you all the same."

"You're welcome." He rose and tucked the notepad and pen away. "Now, I have to leave. Later brat." He disappeared in a cloud of smoke, laughing loudly.

She twitched and shook her head. She was a little bemused about actually meeting him this early –but it hadn't been so bad. She stowed the book carefully back on the shelf and began tidying up the apartment, getting it ready for her to clean.

 

* * *

 

Mika opened one eye and looked at the clock on the wall. Almost three in the afternoon, time to start preparing dinner. She reviewed the meals she had made already that week and decided to just make a big pot of soup for dinner. Yawning, she rolled off her bed and shuffled into the kitchen. She opened the fridge and picked over the contents. Some ramen noodles in the soup wouldn't be too bad and it might relax Naruto somewhat for what she was going to do.

Hell, she mused. There wasn't anything that would relax him enough for what she was going to tell him. She started cutting up vegetables. She had planned to tell him when they graduated the next year but meeting Jiraiya had given her the feeling that Naruto should find out earlier than she had planned.

The slamming of the front door broke her train of thought.

"Nee-chan, we're home!" Naruto yelled from the front room.

"Welcome back," she said, scraping garlic into the pot.

Naruto raced into the kitchen and grabbed Mika in a bear hug. "What's for dinner?" he asked, snatching a carrot. Mika let the thievery pass; anything to get some vegetables into Naruto, he was so picky he made her feel like crying sometimes when he would just eat only ramen for a month straight.

"Soup," she said. "Go wash up."

"Okay!" He stole another carrot and sauntered out of the room, bopping Sasuke in the shoulder when they passed each other. Sasuke swiped at Naruto's head and snorted in amusement.

"How'd you get him to put a carrot in his mouth?" he asked. He picked up the tomatoes and started cutting them meticulously into perfectly measured slices. Mika glanced at his hands working and sighed.

"He picked it up all on his own and started eating it." She raised her eyes to the ceiling. "I've been blessed to witness a miracle," she said mockingly to it. She glanced back at Sasuke. He had finished slicing the tomatoes and had moved on to the potatoes, cutting each skin off in a perfect spiral and then slicing the root into rectangular wedges. Lately he'd started getting very particular about things. He wouldn't let her clean his room, he cleaned it himself and arranged it like each item was radioactive and needed to be placed in a certain way or it would explode.

His nightmares had come back.

"Mika, why are you staring at me like that?" Sasuke eyed her uneasily.

She jumped and laughed sheepishly. "Are you going to cut everything regulation? The soup will get boring."

"Huh?" Sasuke looked down at the tubers. "What's wrong with it this way?" he asked defensively.

"Nothing really, but why do you cut them up like that anyway?" She peered into the pot. "Come on, the oil is almost ready."

Sasuke finished cutting the rest of the vegetables and Mika dumped them in the pot, stirred for a few minutes. Naruto came back into the kitchen and she added water and settled the lid on the pot.

"So you two are early," she said as they sat down at the counter. "Cut class?"

The two boys grinned at her.

"Sort of," said Sasuke. "Iruka-sensei's face was priceless when the stink bomb went off. We spent a whole week planning that prank and it went off without a hitch." He high-fived Naruto.

"Yeah, I get the feeling the stink bomb wasn't the entirety of your prank," said Mika, tilting her head to the side. "Yeah," she said, eyeing their wicked grins. "Now I'm glad I didn't go to class today."

"Oh, don't worry Nee-chan, you wouldn't have gotten... much," Naruto broke out into giggles.

"Brats, both of you," she huffed.

"Why, thank you," they chorused. All three lapsed into a comfortable silence. Naruto yawned and rested his cheek on the table, Sasuke closed his eyes and began meditating lightly. Mika eyed the pot and then sat down at the counter. She looked at Naruto and decided it could wait until after they had eaten.

"Why don't you guys get your Academy homework and get started on it while the soup cooks?" she suggested.

Sasuke snapped his fingers. "Mika, did I tell you about the only person in class who didn't get smelly ink on them?"

She looked curiously at him as Naruto's head snapped up and he lunged for Sasuke. The two boys went tumbling off their stools and Mika jumped on both of them to make sure they didn't knock something over.

"It was Hinata!" gasped Sasuke, trying to keep Naruto's hands away from his face. The blonde squawked and yanked on the other boy's bangs. Sasuke yelled and hit Naruto on the nose. Mika grabbed his wrists with one hand and whacked him on the head with the other.

"Quit it you two, before you knock something over," she yelled. She wrapped an arm around Naruto's neck and hauled him off of Sasuke and rolled to her feet. "Take it to the training grounds if you want to fight!"

The two boys sprawled on the kitchen floor and sulked.

"Better," she said. "Now get up off the floor."

They got slowly back onto their stools, stubbornly refusing to look at each other. The kitchen was filled with sulky silence. Mika sat down again and stared off into space and then put her forehead down on the counter, then lifted it up again.

"Really, Naruto? Hinata?" she asked.

The blonde boy shrugged. "Sasuke said he'd noticed her following me around. I wanted to know what would happen."

"So... you set off the stink bomb and... spared her from it...?"

"He's going to talk to her next Monday, right Naruto?" said Sasuke.

Naruto coughed and shifted on his stool, looking nervously around the kitchen.

"Well..." he cleared his throat and caught sight of Sasuke's smirk.”Of course I'm going to talk to her. But what about?" He rubbed his chin. "Nee-chan, what do you girls like to talk about?"

She blinked at him. "Talk about with boys?"

"Yep."

"I... have no idea."

He gawked at her. "But you're a girl! How do you not know?"

Mika deadpanned at him. "Naruto, do I really look like I go around talking to boys other than you two all the time? And I'm definitely sure Hinata doesn't do it either."

"Damn..." he sulked at the counter top and Mika rolled her eyes at the ceiling.

 

* * *

 

"That felt like heaven," groaned Naruto as he leaned back on his hands. The three of them were seated at the low table in the middle of the apartment with steaming cups of tea in front of them. Sasuke was engrossed in a scroll he had brought home from the library, Mika was staring into her teacup and Naruto was lazing.

"Good," said Mika. "Because there's something you should know."

Naruto looked at her. "What, are you upset? Did I do something? It's all the ramen in my cupboards, isn't it?"

"No, Naruto." She nudged Sasuke's foot under the table. "Pay attention, you should hear this too."

Sasuke ignored her and kept reading.

"This is _important_. Pay attention," she growled and clapped her hands in front of his face.

_"What?"_ he yelled, dropping the scroll and swiping at her hands. 

"Listen," she scolded. He made a face at her and folded his arms.

"Make it quick, then. I want to finish this."

Mika shook her head and sighed. "Do you know what a Jinchuuriki is Naruto?"

He blinked. “A what?”

“Didn’t you do this in class when you studied history? About the Shodaime’s wife and Kushina Uzumaki? They were jinchuuriki.”

“Oohh, right, they had the Kyuubi sealed into them. So people who have a Bijuu sealed into them are referred to as jinchuuriki.” He nodded. “I remember now.”

Mika took a deep breath, feeling a nervous thrill running through her body. “You’re the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi.”

A beat of silence and then, _“What?”_


	7. Chapter Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I have no claims to the copyrights of Naruto. Don't sue.

** BOOK TWO: SEALCRAFTER **

****

** PART TWO **

****

 

The silence stretched out like a spider's web, tangling his thoughts and weaving around his brain. He was a what? Naruto stared speechlessly at Mika.

"Are you serious?" asked Sasuke. "Naruto has the Kyuubi sealed in him?" 

"Yes." Mika looked hard at Naruto. "I'm sorry about springing it on you like this but–"

"How?" Naruto interrupted.

"Huh? Oh. The Yondaime sealed it into you when the Kyuubi attacked the village on that night nine years ago."

He nodded. "Sorry, that's not exactly what I meant. I should have phrased it differently. The previous jinchuuriki, they were Mito Uzumaki, wife of the Shodaime and Kushina Uzumaki, wife of the Yondaime. Both were from the Uzumaki clan and so am I. But how come I've never seen another Uzumaki in the village? If there were children they would be in the Academy."

"Well, yes. But Uzushiogakure was destroyed and the Uzumaki clan was scattered across the shinobi nations. It would take a long time to find all of them."

"Oh. So my parents must have been Uzumaki too." Naruto looked down at the table. "I guess they must have been killed in the Kyuubi's attack and the Yondaime decided to use me."

"Your parents died to save the village. And your father hoped you would be a hero." Mika folded her arms and gazed serenely at him.

"So they told him to seal the Kyuubi into me?" Naruto asked, eyes wide.

" _They_ sealed the Kyuubi into you," Mika corrected gently.

Naruto stared at her, blankly at first and then with dawning comprehension. "The Yondaime... was my... father...?"

"And Uzumaki Kushina was your mother, yes. So don't talk about them like they just decided to take any newborn orphan and use him as simply the means to an end. I don't think they wanted what happened for you." She sighed. "I think your mother's seal weakened when she gave birth to you and the Kyuubi escaped and started attacking the village."

"How do you know?" asked Sasuke abruptly.

"Hm?"

"How do you know all of this and we didn't? About the Kyuubi and his parents? And why didn't anyone tell Naruto? Even if the villagers didn't know who his parents were, all the insults he got from them, somebody should have let it slip about Kyuubi a long time ago."

"The Sandaime ordered that no one was ever to speak of it, and he kept your parentage secret to protect you from assassination and kidnapping attempts but while most of the villagers who lived in the time the Kyuubi attacked did obey the law, they still hate you for carrying the Kyuubi. The kids hate you because their parents hate you, and they were never told any different. And I did something that's frowned upon to confirm who I thought Naruto's parents were." 

"And what exactly," drawled Sasuke, "was that something?"

Mika grinned sheepishly and frantically cast about for a believable explanation. "Since Naruto's surname is Uzumaki I looked up all Uzumaki living in the village starting from twenty years ago. While there were several men, there were only three women and six men who had any contact with shinobi. Four of the five men had children who had moved away or had been killed in action. Mito Uzumaki, who died ten years ago and Kushina Uzumaki, the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi were the two shinobi of the three women. The other woman had left the village some time before Mito's death and was not a ninja. Mito had a child who had a daughter, Tsunade, who had no children and whose location is currently unknown. Kushina Uzumaki had become the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi and eventually married Minato Namikaze, the future Yondaime Hokage.

I couldn't find any records of her pregnancy so I may have faked a bit and asked around in a henge about her with the older folks of the village, civilians of course, who would have known Kushina when she was alive. The clincher came when I spoke to Teuchi of Ichiraku Ramen. He told me that Kushina had indeed been pregnant but he had no idea what happened to her child. The identity of her husband was well and open so unless she was unfaithful, Naruto's father is the Yondaime Hokage. That's pretty much how I came to know who your parents are Naruto."

"Seriously, you couldn't just ask the Hokage? I'm pretty sure that he would know who Naruto's parents were," said Sasuke.

"Well, going to the Hokage would have been by far the easiest way but I didn't want to catch anybody's attention."

"Whose attention were you worried about?" he prodded.

Mika glanced at Naruto. "It's something I should speak with you in private about first."

"Ok then. That's all I need to hear?"

"Yeah, pretty much. Brat..."

Sasuke stared creepily at her and then went back to his scroll as Mika and Naruto exchanged irritated looks.

"You and Sasuke don't hate me. Did your parents tell you different?" Naruto sipped his tea. He didn't really want to ask right then what Mika didn't want to talk about. He got the feeling it had something to do with why they were orphans.

"Actually no, they didn't want me or Sasuke to talk to you."

"So why didn't you listen to them?"

"I had absolutely no objections to you being a jinchuuriki and holding the Kyuubi. I don't think they did either but they seemed to want to avoid any unnecessary trouble. Naruto, to go further in this line of conversation about my parents would be to involve you in something that it's best to keep you out of for now." 

"Sure." He took another sip of his tea. Sasuke put the scroll down on the table and rested his elbows on either side of it to keep it from rolling away.

"Mika," asked Naruto. "You don't know –what's the word? You don't know absolutely who my parents are, do you?"

"It's pretty much guesswork and the say-so of a person who knew them, so if you really want to put it that way, you would be right."

"So only someone who was there the night I was born would know right?"

"Yeah."

"Then there's only one person I can ask."

"Hmm? And who would that be?"

"Kyuubi," said Sasuke, not looking up from his scroll.

"Right on!" Naruto said, giving him a thumbs up.

Sasuke looked up and smiled. "Excellent idea."


End file.
